Clutch.



No. 855,524. PATENT'ED JUNE 4,1907.

i W. R. MGKBEN, JB.

CLUTCH,

APPLIo-MIQN HLED MAY 1e, 1905.

s SHEETS-SHEET 1.

n/ff@ No. 955,524. PATENT@ JUNE 4, 19o?.

" wmmgmm.

CLUTCH. APLIOATION FILED HAY 16, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 855,524. l ATENTED JUNE 4, 1997 W. B.. MGKEEN, Jr..

CLUTCH.

APPLIOATIOH FILED MAY 16, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

M131/Leases narra earns earner orario.

WILLIAM R. Mensen, JR., or OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

CLUTCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 190'?.

Application filed May 16,1905. Serial No. 260.732.

of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same..

'This invention rela-testo improvement in clutches, and deals more particularly with those of the friction type.

(lne of the objects Vthereof is to provide a simple and strong clutch adapted efficiently to transmit heavy power.

Another obj ect is to provide efficient means in connection, with a clutch whereby the members thereof may be thrown into contact with a maximum pressure for the power used in throwing.

Another object is to provide practical, com pact and durable power transmitting means in which the amount of power transmitted may be under complete and ready control.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of. parts which will )e exem lined in the apparatus herein-after describe and the scope of the a plication of which will be indicated in t 1e following claims. i

In the accompanying drawing, wherein is shown one of various possible embodiments of my invention, Figure 1 represents a lon# gitudinal, vertical central section taken through a clutch with associated parts,- Fig. 2 represents a section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the-clutch with associated parts. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section taken on the planes indicated by line L1; 4 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In .order to render clearer certain of the several features of my invention, it may here be noted that IA have found that in cases wherein a considerable amount of power is to be transmitted through a friction clutch, it is usually necessary to exert a. high degree of pressure upon one or more of the members thereof, and that this pressure is difficult of attainment without sacrifice of the compactl ness and simplicity of the structure.

It may also be noted that I have found that in clutches wherein one of the members thereof is gripped upon both sides by co-acting members, there is often a tendency to relative an gular dis )lacement of the two gripping'mem-l bers. Tlie above and other defects are overcome and many positive advantages attained in constructions of the naturev of that hereinafter described.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 indicates the driven shaft, and. 2 a sleeve mounted to rotate freely thereon. In this illustrative embodiment there is shown a gear wheel 3 fixed to the sleeve 2 and meshing with the gear wheel 4 fixed to a counter-shaft 5, said counter-shaft 5 carrying gears 6 and 7 adapted to be engaged by gears 8 and 9 respectively, carried by sleeve 10 which is either formed olysided in transverse section and arrange upon a similarly polysided portion of the shaft 1, or Ikeyed to said shaft. The sleeve 10 is,provided with an annular groove 11 designed to be engaged by an actuating le-` ver for being thrown to a position with the gear 9 in mesh with gear 7, or with the gear 8 in mesh with the gear 6', whereby power may be transmittedfrom the sleeve 2 tothe shaft 1.

' The sleeve 1G may be provided with a posi-r .independently A of the A gearing.. abovev mentioned.

Rotatably mounted upon the sleeve Zand retained against lateral movement by the annular flange 1,4C carried-by said sleeve, is the butt of a clutch carrier. 16 on which is fixed' a sprocket gear 1.5 designed to receive power by means of av sprocket chain orotherf wise, fromany suitable source.

It may here be noted that the term car,

IOO

rier is used throughout this specificationv.

and the following claims in abroad sense as denoting any part to which one of the 'members of a clutch is secured or. `upon which it is formed.

The said carrier 16 is formed with a hori- IOS aontalvannular, overhangingilange 17. An inwardly projecting annular flange 1S extends from the iiange 1T, and between the 'aange 18 and the main portion of. the carrier 16is arranged a disk .19, said disk being keyed to the sleeve 2 in such manner as to be free tomove longitudinally thereof for af short distance and held/against rotation in' 'dependently thereof. The outer portion of the disk 19 constitutes one of the gripping flaws of the present improved clutch, land the grlppingring 20,' arranged outside theflange 1S, constitutes the other jaw. The ring 20' is provided with a plurality of inwardly extending bosses 21 which `overlap an annular lbead 22 formed on' theV disk 19. At the ointfof each of the bosses 21, 'a bolt `23 ormed witlfa -T head 24, ispassed through the .disk 19. and extends through the respective boss 2,1, 'and at its. outer-end carries a' suitable nut or nuts 25. 1 sleeve 26 is slidingly mounted upon the shaft 1 and is designed tov be. moved axially toward and away' from the sleeve 2 by reason of engagement of an actuating lever 27 with said sleeve, such engagement, being effected through' the piv. otal connection of the bifurcated ends 2S of said lever with a ring 29 slidingly fitted within an annular-'groove 3() formed in the sleeve 26. Arranged Vtangentially of .the sleeve 26, are levers 31f31 corresponding in number to the number of bolts 23. Each of the levers 31, is pivotally engaged by a Vpin 32, f1xed to the sleeve 26, so that when said sleeve'is moved lonlffitn'dinally, all of said levers 31 will swing vaterally. Each of the levers 31 extends to one of the4 bolt 23 and is provided with a cam head 33, interposed between the ring or ping jaw 20 and the nut 25 of the correspon( ing bolt 23, the respective bolt being passed laterally through the correspondingheml 33. The cam formationof each ofthe headsis such, that, when the levers 31' are swung laterally in one direction, the said heads. will act as wedges for l pressing the nuts 25 outwardly andpressing .the ring 2() inwardly, such movement,- through the action of the bolt 2%, serving to draw the disk 19 outwardly, whereby the two 'p ing'jaws of the clutch may be caused to igiilmyengage the flange 18. Movement of the levers 31 laterally in the other direction Will remove the wedge portion of .the cam heads 33 from beneath the nuts 25 and the ring 20,and permit separation of the gripping jaws. i

The levers 31, as will be obvious from Fig. fr, need to be moved only a comparativelyT short distance for roducing the desired gripping o eration or 'or releasing the grippers so that t e said levers lie at all times substanl tially in the same transverse planes of the shaft 1 and substantially parallel to the ilat faces of the carrier ,1.6.

It will thus be seen that I have. provided a construction ofthe simplest character which is well adapted to accomplish the several oh- ]ects of my invention. On account of the tangential disposition of the cam levers, al

greater compactness of construction and elli ciency of action-is attained. By reason.4 of thls arrangement not only is the clutch actuating sleeve brought closer to the clutch, thus utilizing less space vin a direction longitudinal of the shaft, but the use of longer levers is rendered vpossible without bringing the ends thereof beyond the desired distance from the axis of rotation. In this manner, a long lleverage with'correspondingly great pressure is permitted, and this pressure is exertedat exactly the desired point, namely, ad jacent the co-ating member upon the carrier, without necessitating the use of a carrier and gripping invult-ers of such diameter as to be cumbersomifv. It will also be seen that on account of the interlocking construction of the gripping members, all tendency of the same to rotate relative one to another is done away with, and this Without bringing stress to bear upon the connecting' bolts. The entire mcchanism is of the most compact construction and yet most efficient and reliable action, and is at allA times under complete cont-rol.

As 'many changes could be made -in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, I intendthat all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I desire it also to be'understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and speci'lic features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the inven tion, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween,

What I claim is 1. In a clutch mechanism, the combina- 't'ion with a shaft, of a sleeve journaled thereon, a carrier journaled on the sleeve intermediate the length thereof and formed into a housing overhanging the en d of the sleeve, an annular flange projecting inwardly from the housing, a clutch member slidingly keyed to the surrounded end of the sleeve and extending betweenthe wall of the housing and the lange, a clutch member arranged on the out side oi'v said flange, and means directly 'engag ing the clutch members for producing grip ping action thereof.

2. In a clutch mechanism, the combination with a shaft and a carriery rotatably sun 855,524 ggg orte by said shaft, said carrier having a "vertical-planes ofthe shaft', all osaid arms ro ange, o clutch rjaws arranged to engage-the being et all'- times substantially parallel to flange of said carrier', means for producing a vthe lafl` faces of the carrier. clutch f Qpersmon of said jaws,= a'sleeve Inlteslsmony vsrhereo3 El' alix my signature 5 mounts A .to move longi'udinallyo the shaft, in presence of twowitnesses.

and arms pivotallyengaging the elutclactu WILLAM R. MCKEEN, JR. ating means :and extending tangentially with Witnesses: respect to the sleeve andshaft, all said armsV CEAS.- A. CooNs, lying substantiallv in the same transverse HARRY R. STRINGER. 

